This Indian cricket team as good as West Indies of the 80s: Dean Jones

Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has compared the present Indian cricket team to the great West Indies side of the 1980s. This after Virat Kohli led India to a historic tour of Australia. The team won the Test and ODI rubbers and drew the T20 International series.

And to top it all, India’s bench strength is superb. It has three wicket-keeper batsmen, who can represent the country in the upcoming World Cup – Dhoni, Dinesh Kartik and Rishab Pant.

In his column in the Times of India, Jones wrote, “This was the greatest tour that India has ever had to Australia. The only blemish was probably the way they played in the Test match in Perth. But overall the great thing was that a lot of the boys played good overseas. Everyone did something on the tour to contribute.”
Jones wrote every player played his part as India clinched their maiden ODI bilateral series against Australia in Australia.
“The emergence of Chahal on his first outing Down Under was awesome. Kuldeep Yadav continues to be brilliant and had a wonderful ODI series. He showed everyone why he’s so good. Shami worked long and hard in the Tests and then backed that up with another superb ODI series. Sharma was brilliant in the one-dayers too, while Virat Kohli led magnificently right through,” Jones wrote.

India have a problem of plenty but should ensure they utilise their players wisely and well

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni hit three consecutive half-centuries in the ODI series and was adjudged Man of the Series.

“The main ‘problem’ is Dhoni. He’s back in this team. Now, the question is will India, if push comes to shove, play Rishab Pant as just a batsman? India couldn’t be having a better journey for their World Cup campaign than this. And they have got to make sure they finish off New Zealand as well. What would be the worst thing to ruin this would be to go out to against the Black Caps and drop their guard,” Jones opined. India became the first team ever not to lose any series Down Under and Jones had no hesitation in comparing Kohli’s team to the fearsome Windies side of the 80s.

India have got to keep the foot on the pedal & win in anyone’s backyard like the Windies in the 80s.

“Boys in the blue are no different to what the West Indies were in the eighties and early nineties. They have got to maintain the reputation that they can win in anyone’s backyard now and must not take the foot off the pedal. The Windies were brilliant at it and had that “scare factor”, which is what India have now,” Jones opined.

Jones added that the Aussies were let down by their batsmen who couldn’t put enough runs in the ODI series.
“Australia have a long way to go. The top four did not make enough hundreds, and the engine room is not accepting the responsibility of winning or losing games. I thought Richardson was a find, he played well. They’ve got problems all over the place. They don’t have a good spinner; I think they’ve got to look at Fawad Ahmed who I feel is the best spinner going right now. I also feel we need Matthew Wade at No. 7,” Jones concluded.

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